[NVC Day 27] -- [Open Office] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

With the sentencing over, the Enterprise would soon be leaving Sha'Kwai and returning to its original mission. By this point, Jim was ready for it. He wanted off the planet, his wanderlust getting the better of it. It was the longest stretch of time he had spent in once place minus his years at the Academy - always moving, always traveling, wanting

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[janice_rand_sir]

Despite her best efforts at concealing it, no observer could have failed to recognize the look on Janice Rand's face for quiet pleasure and pride as she walked through the open door and over to the Captain's desk. The famous Enterprise and its famous Captain, and Starfleet had allocated her to serve them both - any young yeoman would have been delighted.

Still, Janice tried to keep her expression at least mostly professional as she saluted the young man behind the desk. "Yeoman Janice Rand, sir, reporting for duty. I've just been detailed to the Enterprise."

[kirktastic]

Jim looked up at the young girl who came up to his psuedo-desk out on the deck. She was gorgeous for sure in the past he would have gone after her immediately but as soon as she declared her name and reported that got struck off the list. She had an interesting face. Unique. He liked that.

"Nice to meet you, Yeoman." He offered out a hand to her. "Forgive me, haven't gotten through every new person transferred to the 'prise yet. Who's going to be your direct supervisor?" He pulled up a search on his PADD, wanting to get her information. He knew medical had had an opening until Sam had filled it, but Spock and Grimm didn't have one yet...

[janice_rand_sir]

Janice tried hard not to grin outright, and quirked her head a little to the side.

"Well," she said, " - I'm supposed to report direct to you, sir. Captain's meant to have a yeoman to do his donkey work."

[kirktastic]

...

The smile died almost instantly, brows shooting up. His fingers stopped over the PADD where they had been typing. He hadn't requested a yeoman. He and Spock had been doing just fine, specially with George helping out from time to time of his own free will. Why would Starfleet assign him a yeoman?

"There's a mistake," Jim decided. "I didn't request a yeoman."

[janice_rand_sir]

Janice faltered at the look on his face.

"I don't know anything about that, sir," she said, haltingly. "I - they said all captains are supposed to have a yeoman. Something about your ship still being in the process of being brought up to capacity."

[kirktastic]

"We were hugely over capacity," Jim did not like this at all. What the hell was with Starfleet? If this thing with Nero hadn't happened, they wouldn't even have been close enough to transfer a yeoman to the ship so clearly he hadn't needed one before. Where they dissatisfied with his work?

He leaned back in his chair, frowning as he thought. "Have you served anywhere else? Did you request this position or where you just appointed it?"

[janice_rand_sir]

"They said something about evening the Enterprise out when she came into port," Janice said, still looking a little confused. "I worked briefly on a starbase, but I've never been assigned to a ship before."

He looked...distinctly not-happy.

"I didn't request the position specifically," she added. "I had just put in a transfer request for some kind of position on a fleet ship."

[kirktastic]

Evening OUT? Jim turned his head, the flat of his finger between his fingertip and knuckle pressing against his lips as he thought. They have no idea what even needs to be evened out. His finger tapped once before he fixed Janice with that piercing stare again.

At least she hadn't served under someone else. Wasn't coming in with some sort of defined knowledge of what a captain should do, as he was fairly sure most of the time he threw that out the window. "Why you, of all people?" Both wondering what she personally believed as well as if Starfleet told her anything.

Starfleet had let him down all too much recently. Parole. Bullshit.

[janice_rand_sir]

Janice looked back at him a little blankly. "Why me, sir?"

Why her, indeed? That really was the question. She'd never done anything particularly remarkable. She'd never been top of her class. She hadn't expected a post anywhere half so prestigious as the Enterprise.

She shook her head, and shrugged. "I really don't know. They never told me anything. You know what Starfleet are like, sir." She colored slightly, self-conscious. "I just got an official message and that was it. I was probably just next on a list of yeomans to be assigned."

[kirktastic]

"Do you have orders from Starfleet other than to report to me?" The gaze got more focused. Would she lie, or was she really just one very lucky yeoman?

[janice_rand_sir]

He seemed awful suspicious. Janice frowned a little. Maybe there'd been a mistake? And wouldn't that be just her luck?

"I was on a space station a little ways away from here. They gave me orders to report to you on New Vulcan, because you guys were here for a refit or something. So I came to New Vulcan, and now I'm reporting to you." She shrugged. "That's all I got. Sir."

Janice knew all about orders. Janice did what orders said, simple as that. And at the moment, she took her orders from Starfleet.

[kirktastic]

Jim studied her, frowning. She seemed automated, but... "Tell me about yourself." He held up a finger. "Not what I can read in your profile. About you." IF he had to work with this girl, and Starfleet was trying to give him help unlike the other times they had sent people his way, then he wanted to see if she was even someone he could work with day in and out.

[janice_rand_sir]

"About me?"

Janice laughed a little. Wasn't that always an interesting question? It was always hard to know how the hell much people wanted to know, especially when the person asking was a captain.

"Well," she said, "what do you want to know? Um...Starfleet was the first time I was on earth for any length of time since I was a really little kid. My brothers and I grew up" in slave colonies and refugee camps - "mostly off-planet, moving about a lot." She paused. "Or were you thinking more along the lines of I like Italian and I like to climb things?"

[kirktastic]

Getting her to relax a little helped relax him in return. He smiled just a little. "I know a lot about constantly moving. Italian as in food, country, or language? What sort of climbing?" He enjoyed climbing for as little as he had gotten to do it.

[janice_rand_sir]

Seeing his face soften just a little gave her a glimmer of hope.

"As in food," she told him. "I like - well - pretty much any and all food, really, but Italian is my favorite."

One of the best things about Starfleet Academy, among all the other awesome things about it, had been the guarantee of regular meals.

"Annnnnnnd, the climbing? I did a lot of cliff-walking, rappelling, that kinda stuff. When I was in the Academy I was in a club, and we did climbs all over California." She smiled. "There's not much vertical cliff-face on a starship, unfortunately, but there isn't any on a starbase, either."

[kirktastic]

"Cliff-walking?" Interesting. At least she seemed to have some personality in her now. "You trained in any sort of combat?" Always useful to know for away missions and the like. If not, he could teach her, but if he had something to work with... knives George could work with her, any sort of sword Sulu could...